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Lincoln County man pleads to murder

James Luke Miller Jr. avoided a possible life sentence with no-contest plea to second-degree murder in District Court Wednesday.

Miller was charged with first-degree murder.

The plea means Miller, 28, of Carrizozo, admits to shooting Scott Markant with a shotgun April 11, 2011, in Oscuro, about 15 miles south of Carrizozo.

Lincoln County Sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call from Markant's girlfriend reporting the homicide just before 5 p.m. April 11 and arrived to find Markant's body lying on the ground near a garden at the rear of the property on the corner of Highway 54 and Oscuro Bombing Range Road. According to court documents, Markant had been shot multiple times with a shotgun and Lincoln County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Ken Cramer reported finding multiple shotgun shells a short distance from the body.

According to Cramer's probable cause statement, Miller admitted shooting Markant, who he knew only as "Sean." After shooting Markant, Miller got in a truck with the shotgun and attempted to leave the area. Miller then returned to the murder scene where he was arrested.

Miller also pleaded no contest to tampering with evidence in the case, which could add three years in prison to the maximum 15-year second-degree murder sentence.

"You do realize that you will have to do 85 percent of that time?" District Judge Karen Parsons asked Miller before accepting his plea. "Because of the crime there is no day-for-day good time on this.

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Miller said he understood what the no contest plea meant.

Miller's only questions were about getting credit for the 19 months he has been in Lincoln County Detention Center awaiting trial and how soon he could get out of the jail and on to prison.

"I am sure they will transport you soon," Parsons said. "Probably next week."

The transport to the New Mexico Department of Corrections will be for a 60-day pre-sentence diagnostic rather than a prison term. Deputy District Attorney Reed Thompson and Public Defender Gary C. Mitchell quickly agreed with Parsons suggestion for the pre-sentence evaluation for Miller.

Parsons set sentencing for Feb. 8, 2013.

In addition to the prison time, Parsons broached the possibility of restitution.

"If the family submits for reimbursement of funeral expenses the Department of Corrections will take it from what ever money he makes working at the prison," Mitchell said.

"Restitution is impossible," Thompson said before Mitchell suggested the family might try to recover funeral costs. "The state will ask for reasonable reimbursement."